Tigers get revenge in slugfest

STOCKTON -The Pacific softball team exorcised the mastery Teagan Gerhart had over it on Wednesday and earned its most impressive win of the season against No. 15 Stanford.

Jagdip Dhillon

STOCKTON -The Pacific softball team exorcised the mastery Teagan Gerhart had over it on Wednesday and earned its most impressive win of the season against No. 15 Stanford.

Junior Megan Foglesong hit an RBI single in the sixth inning off Gerhart to break a tie, and senior Nikki Armagost made up for a subpar pitching performance by following that with a two-run single to help give Pacific a 9-6 victory over the Cardinal before 257 at Bill Simoni Field.

The Tigers (28-22) chased Gerhart in the third inning. She was reinserted by coach John Rittman after freshman Kelsey Stevens walked Alexi Johnson to begin the sixth.

The win halts Stanford's nine-game winning streak against the Tigers dating to 2005, with Gerhart winning five of those contests. The senior entered the game with a 5-0 career mark against Pacific with three shutouts and one earned run allowed in 32 innings, scattering 12 hits and striking out 27. On Wednesday, she gave up five runs on eight hits in 3 2/3 innings.

Armagost was relieved to finally break through against Gerhart and the Cardinal (29-16).

"It's kind of bittersweet to have it happen in my last game against them," said Armagost, who tossed a complete game and went 2 for 4 with three RBI. "But I'm so thankful that my team backed me up. It was an all-around great game. I was really surprised we got to (Gerhart) so much."

Gerhart, whose brother is former Stanford and current Minnesota Vikings running back Toby Gerhart, wasn't her dominant self. Junior third baseman Taylor Petty hammered a 1-1 pitch over the left-field fence in the first inning to give Pacific a 2-0 lead.

"It's about time we got to her," Petty said. "We were on top of it and ready to go today. I was excited she was going to pitch me inside (in the first at-bat), that got me stoked and I turned on it."

Armagost couldn't hold the lead. In the third inning, she allowed four hits and three runs on a Leah White blast over the right-field fence. In the sixth, Erin Ashby hit a three-run home run to tie the game. But Armagost hung tough to earn the win, her first in four starts against the Cardinal.

"Nikki really battled because you take away the home runs and she pitched a great game against a really good hitting team," Pacific coach Brian Kolze said. "We swung the bats really well, we executed and a lot of people came through today."